AstroBoy

I guess it was an ambitious idea to try to shove so much into one match. . . perhaps that is commendable. But in reality this was such an overload of everything that nothing really had a chance to stand out anyway. They really do try to fit in a ton and there are the mini-stories and angles woven into the middle of the battle royal but it was hard to have much of a takeaway here. Savage looked humongous in his little appearance. I thought it was funny how Douglas also blatantly walks over to get into place so that Flair can eliminate him and win the match and title shot.

The clarity and compactness of the first two falls were far superior to the final third I thought. I know they were very brief but thought they told really nice self-contained mini-stories in each and then I felt like the final fall just kind of went through necessary motions to get to the conclusion. That said, I really liked the setup of those first two falls and the action was well-paced and good so I enjoyed this quite a bit. Really loved Mayo wildly throwing himself into his missed turnbuckle charge and the way he bumped for dropkicks so big. Braza pulled out a nice rana too. ***

This was good for what it was. RVD of course is overly flashy with everything and that fits but Lynn really kind of carried this with his urgency and aggression and that fit his character here too. Say what you will about all the gimmicky stuff but they worked some nice stuff around the chair spots and Lynn scouting things out and landing that leg drop on the chair is about as neat a learned spot as they could have worked. I thought the bulldog through the table outside seemed a bit odd and like a weird botch but this was a perfectly enjoyable match and then the wonky ending comes. Craziness leads to Lynn getting the pinfall even though he totally misses the chair on the second piledriver. **3/4

This was fantastic. Taira pulls out a super awesome counter to a powerbomb and rolls through into a great leglock at one point. His striking combinations hit the perfect balance of kind of desperation and danger. The business in the corner with Otsuka kneeing him in the back to loosen him up for the powerbomb was a clever bit of work too. Otsuka I thought sold being in peril pretty well here. He never felt any kind of overmatched but he felt like a guy having to scramble to restore order. The big flurries by Taira were flashy and looked really great and of course the Pele kick was a big highlight. All the rush attacks lead perfectly to the ending, which is nice and definitive. Otsuka also really hits the most painful looking deadlift backbreaker and that was awesome. ****

Matthews looked great here. He really went out of his way to sell the Dupps sort of mild offense during the heat and he also hit a really nice dive out of nowhere and then took a crazy bump being tossed off the turnbuckle to the floor before the finish. He shined in this big time. The opening portion is awesome with Matthews and York outquicking and outsmarting bigger opponents and hitting them with quick dropkicks and good tag offense. Honestly the Dupps did a good job feeding into this and especially taking headscissors well from both guys. **3/4

I didn't like this at a super high level but I did enjoy it. Sabu's offense at the start I thought looked very soft and weak and for awhile it just felt like filler strikes and transitions to just set up nice spots. They work some blood and guts stuff but this picked up big time when they tear through a very stiff back and forth that ends with Sabu leg dropping Gannosuke face down through a table in the corner. The Fire Thunder Driver off the apron was brutal and really starts to add to that sense of escalation. There is that sense of danger, chaos, and animosity here. Sabu's fireball was certainly unexpected but Gannosuke's was even more and this ends at about as high a point that it could end. **3/4

AJ looks like a lost Backstreet Boy in his ring attire. But he flies all over the place getting great elevation on his dropkick and easily leaping to the top rope with no hands, doing his backflip off Golden's torso, etc. Styles indeed does take a radical bump into the guardrail and I do appreciate him milking his athleticism in his bumping so much. This descends into chaos but the match itself was nice before the big angle. I liked Styles aggressiveness during the beatdown though.

Yeah this was just a lot of fun action and Togo and Buffalo execute a lot of nice stuff. Togo does indeed look fantastic here and it's such an easy watch -- nice pace, good action. Really good match based on the video here.

This was pretty good. I liked the heft that Hashi throws into shoulder tackles and he throws a really nice body slam. Kenta looked green and very skinny but perfectly competent as they mostly traded basic holds for awhile. Kenta works in a really nice lightning fast armdrag on Hashi at one point. This felt grounded but more fleshed out and able to breathe than I would have expected. Interesting to get a glimpse of where they were at this point. **1/2

I didn't enjoy this very much. Hogan gives some to Vampiro to start the match, sure, and then after being beaten on for a few minutes Hogan just eye rakes Vampiro and takes over, mauling him for the entire match before the screwy finish. Hogan has a nice edge here and that helped but I just couldn't get into it much after he shook Vampiro off like nothing. *1/2

The Asylum looks kind of cool I guess. Scott's promo at the front end of this is absolutely ridiculous including the cheerleaders encouraging his dirty nursery rhymes. Yeah Rick has nothing to offer here and it's just dressing for yet another angle anyway.

I don't know. Venis is just not terribly compelling. His work is fine and well-executed but it's right about the crowd just not coming around on him. Jeff starts out crazy and hits a fun dive then kind of botches a rail run thing before getting hotshotted onto the steel stairs. The crowd is super into Jeff and this kind of breaks down toward the end with shenanigans but this was okay. Jeff has shown between this and the Benoit match that he can at least be serviceable at this point playing a sympathetic fiery babyface kind of in over his head against more established guys or superior "wrestlers." **1/2

These two looked motivated to have a little TV match of some substance as Benoit works the ribs and they work the match around that little story. Eddy's opportunistic comebacks and Benoit's cutoffs are well-integrated here and it's just as good as it could have been given what the match was meant to be.

Yeah this felt a little sloppy in a few places but they both worked really hard here and fit a lot into the time that they had. The spear spot outside to take over for Edge was really well thought out and came across perfectly. A pretty good match. **

Yeah I like this matchup. Bubba gets to show some solid singles work and stand out in a different and Kurt gets to go in a quick and focused match. They both looked good, ran through a lot of fun sequences and Kurt goes over clean while not sacrificing anything for Bubba. Good stuff. **1/2

The action was fine with Juvi and Shannon Moore looking pretty solid here but man the booking and confusion was all over the place. I get what they were going for but this was just a little much I thought. Candido looked like he took a tough shot catching that Shannon Moore dive. Daphney really did get a big reaction but I was never a huge fan of her act. David Flair looks like such a dork at ringside here. **

The match is whatever but the post-match angle is really great. Venis gets incredibly vicious and busts open Rikishi and the attack just continues with Trish barking orders the whole time. All this is incredibly effective in building up a suddenly serious and focused mid-card feud and then Rikishi comes back and the crowd goes nuts for him bringing the fight back. He caps it with the memorable Superfly splash off the stage. Man they packed a lot of good stuff into this one segment.

Different dynamic than the Benoit/Jeff match as both guys are favorites here so Eddy I think does the smart thing and they work a flashier match. The roll-up sequence does not feel obligatory or out of place here and the crowd pleasing spots keep things moving. I also absolutely love the sudden but clean finish with the rana for the pin. This wasn't at the level of Benoit/Jeff but it also wasn't trying to be the same kind of match. **1/2

Match was pretty much nothing although the finish was smartly done and kept the heel team strong even losing with the odds. It's the pre-match that was so great. Edge and Christian and Angle and their idea of comedy in the current day don't interest me that much so it's refreshing to see this old stuff of theirs holding up so well. They milk these poses for all they're worth and this one with the Scott Norwood jersey is an all-timer.

This was good stuff. It's a solid story with Jeff sort of stepping up in class and working with a real sense of urgency while Benoit targets the ribs and works a real nice control section. There are a few crossed up moments in here and you get the sense maybe Jeff wasn't *quite* ready to execute this match at the highest level possible but the basic beats are all there and it's a really good TV match. ***

For some reason it irritated me more than anything that Russo gets a chance to slap on a side headlock and take down Flair with a shoulder tackle to start the match. What the fuck. If you're going to insist on the stupid screwjob finish then Flair should've fucking mauled him the entire time. This was an utter disaster. It was like a tediously constructed set of distractions and interference and bullshit leading to a totally predictable and dead finish. What can you do.

Well they had some fun exchanges while it lasted. I don't even understand the point of all the craziness surrounding the finish. I know Kidman is in the midst of a big feud with Hogan but both guys deserve better than this.

Fun match with some really hot nearfalls before all the fuckery comes in. And this feels like a good example of some really effective overbooking. I've been watching so many WCW matches fall to complete shambles with nonsense finishes but this really was an out-of-control scene at the end that truly allowed HHH to escape with the belt while working other main contenders into the main event storyline. ***

This was fun. Angle, Edge, and Christian really make for a fun group. Jericho got to shine a little and I'll second that camera shot of his springboard dropkick looking very impressive. Bubba Ray is a really good hot tag and ran through a lot of bruising stuff in really quick fashion. Finish was perfectly executed with Edge saving Christian leading directly to Angle stealing the win on Bubba. Good quick match, good booking. Good stuff. **1/4

The match was kind of a backdrop to the HHH-centric guest commentary and interference. He gets involved with Undertaker and they retaliate and go back and forth at different points. The match sort of had a weird dynamic starting out with Kane and Undertaker double teaming The Rock and it just felt like three characters sort of at odds from a crowd perspective. Again, a short match sort of just shot to set up the match later in the night.